پاپائے رومہ ، بنڈکٹ پانز دہم
آغاز سال رواں میں پاپائے رومہ، بنڈکٹ پانز دہم نے انتقال فرمایا، ان سطروں کے شائع ہونے تک ان کے جانشین کا بھی انتخاب ہوچکا ہوگا، جس وقت سے پاپائیت کا باضابطہ عہدہ قائم ہوا ہے، صدہا افراد اس منصب پر مامور رہ چکے ہیں، بلکہ اگر ابتدائی عیسوی صدیوں کے بشپ صاحبوں کو بھی اس فہرست میں شامل سمجھا جائے تو شاید شمار سیکڑوں سے متجاور ہوجائے، سوال صرف اس قدر ہے کہ اس طویل و عظیم فہرست میں کسی غیر یورپی شخص کا بھی نام تلاش کرنے سے مل سکتا ہے؟ مسیحیت کے حدود تو ماشاء اﷲ ایشیاء، افریقہ کے گوشہ گوشہ تک وسیع ہوچکے ہیں اور ان ممالک میں کروڑوں باشندہ ’’ابن اﷲ‘‘ کے کلمہ گو موجود ہیں، پھر کیا اب تک ان بے شمار نفوس میں ایک شخص بھی یورپی مسیحیوں کی ہم سطح وہم پلہ نہیں پیدا ہوسکا ہے؟
(سید سليمان ندوی، فروری ۱۹۲۲ء)
In the past, mode of Sirah writing was historical and descriptive but during the 19th century, this trend has been changed to the empirical research methodology. Due to religious devotion, unauthentic narrations were not judged and had been quoted constantly in Sirah literature on which orientalists laid the foundation of their objections. In response, various books are produced introducing argumentative, logical and scholarly way of writing to defend “Sirah of Prophet (PBUH)”. Question is what are the motives and causes which have changed classical trend of Sirah writing and what are its consequences? In this paper, a comparative analysis will be taken of books of Eastern Muslim scholars; Rehmatullah Keranwi, Syed Ahmad Khan, Karam Shah Alazhari, Shibli Noumani, Sana ullah Amertasri as well as Western Muslim scholars Mohammad Hussain Haykel, Hameed ullah, and Mohammad Asad. This paper will elaborate the difference between both of their research methodology and its effect in the field of Sirah writing and will be helpful for researchers.
Surviving the dot com boom successfully, the use of new Information and Communication Technologies by representative political organizations is on the rise. This study explores and explains the relationship between new ICTs and their use by Jama‟at-e-Islami of Pakistan – an “Islamist” party with an organized and rigid hierarchical structure. Though there is a significant amount of literature on the politics and history of the JI, it lacks a focus on JI‟s use of the new ICTs, internet here, for communication purposes. This study suggests that, ideally, internet is a level playing field for the JI. Due to the involvement of the JI in electoral politics of Pakistan, a target population with majority of youth and their interest and availability in the online spaces present ample opportunities for the JI to use these media for extending its sphere of influence. However, the study proposes that while using new ICTs for extending its sphere of influence online, the JI faces significant challenges. These challenges are twofold: first, ideological message attracting specific groups and people in the “pull” and “bonding” media of internet at the cost of finding new supporters; second, a clash between the strategic participation mechanism by the JI (supply side) and the one demanded by the young online public through internet technologies (demand side). The study is thus concerned with what direction the JI may take amidst its leadership struggling to steer it on their own terms against the decentralizing forces coupled by the changing nature of participation in politics through online technologies while at the same time extending its sphere of influence online. To answer this question, the study adopts a theoretical framework comprising a blend of „technological determinism‟ – a realist ontological position, and „social determinism‟ – a constructivist ontological approach, albeit, with a tilt towards the latter. The research takes a mixed method approach for collecting and analyzing the required data. It used Comparative Manifesto Project for codification and quantification of the online message of the JI. Further, to find a meaning into what happens when the JI faces demanded participation from the young citizens through internet, the study resorts to collecting and analyzing qualitative data through interviews of the website managers and leadership of the JI besides informal discussions with IJT students and members from the JI. The findings of the study reveal that the online articulations of the JI were more of a catch-all and post-Islamist (retreat from creating an Islamic state) nature. The study argues that these sorts of articulations help the JI traverse the “pull” and “bonding” nature of the internet. Nevertheless, the JI falls prey to the power of the decentralized technologies, for instance, in the case of its student wing‟s (IJT) former members who exert influence on the decision making in the JI through a virtual forum on Facebook. Thus in the context of new ICTs‟ use, the JI‟s positional elites are not the one to strategically determine either its public or organizational policy. Rather, „new elite‟ join them in steering the direction of the JI. Moreover, due to the importance of digital activism handed over to the „social media‟ team of the JI, I argue that it de-emphasizes the ideological zeal and traditional activism of the formal supporters of the JI. The study fills an important gap in the literature on the JI‟s history and politics in Pakistan. Further, the study claims that the theoretical approach adopted in this research can better explain the use of internet by parties concerned with their ideology and representative structures.